Celebrate International Day of Human Space Flight with Mr. Kalopsia

Ever heard of the International Day of Human Space Flight? Well, Eashan Misra – or, as he’s known on Instagram, Mr. Kalopsia – sure has. This Photoshop artist and space enthusiast celebrates the UN holiday with gusto! And we were lucky enough to get to pick his creative, space-loving brain.

It’s no mystery why so many children grow up with career aspirations to become astronauts. Outer space is naturally fascinating, and, let’s face it, astronauts are just plain cool. But for Eashan, “being an astronaut was never a real career option.” Instead of suiting up himself, Eashan realizes his dream to go to space through his alter ego, Mr. Kalopsia. Eashan shares, “I created Kalopsia’s persona as an astronaut who does everyday chores like a regular human. I try to make this astronaut relatable by creating a parallel universe where he performs tasks like us.”

Eashan’s manipulations and digital paintings keep Mr. Kalopsia grounded and bring him back to earth – but only figuratively, of course. Here he is at an outer space library.

Mr. Kalopsia isn’t the only avid reader in the house, though; Eashan also has quite the appetite for knowledge.

With a fascination for space that extends far beyond his art, when he isn’t busy creating new surroundings for Mr. Kalopsia, Eashan is reading. From Stephen Hawking to Carl Sagan to Meghnad Saha to Edwin Hubble, Eashan devours it all. He’ll puzzle over unsolved (and possibly unsolvable) questions like “What lies beyond our visible universe?” or “What happens inside a black hole?”. Sooner or later, he’ll find himself lost in thought, and that’s when inspiration strikes, bringing him back to his art. He admits, “with every unsolved question, comes another idea for a photo manipulation of what the answer could be.”

Chancing on artistic inspiration didn’t always come so easy, however. Eashan started out on the path to becoming an engineer, pursuing a degree in computer science. His first project in Photoshop was actually creating a poster for a university event. “It took me three days to create that poster,” Eashan remembers, “and for those 72 hours, I watched endless tutorials on YouTube.”

After that, it was an easy decision for Eashan. He describes the moment saying, “The joy of seeing the finished poster on the screen in front of me was incomparable, and I knew that was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”

Eashan learned most of the tools and techniques he uses today by combing through Photoshop tutorials on various YouTube channels. He explains, “I would recreate what I learned in the tutorial to gain skills, and eventually I started creating pieces with fresh ideas of my own.”

Now, he even produces his own tutorials. He was kind enough to share a step-by-step on how he created one of his absolute favorite pieces – an image inspired by artwork from the band Mogwai.

Step 1 – Creating the interstellar background in Photoshop

Step 2 – Adding in an astronaut

Step 3 – Cutting out some fish

Step 4 – Adding depth to the space helmet (or should we say fishbowl?)

Step 5 – Adjusting the color

Final Image

Eashan shared a few parting words of wisdom: “Work hard and be nice to people. This is something which I have always believed in very strongly and something I always try to impart to everyone. I believe that you are not born talented, but you induce talent by working hard. If you can add any meaning to the world with your knowledge and skill, you should do that and help as many people as you can.”

For more of Mr. Kalopsia’s adventures, check out his Instagram.